A false dichotomy

Carol Southgate’s recent letter in the Richmond Review rebuts comments by Olga Illich, the developer-politician. Like many (but not all) developers, Ms. Illich would like to get rid of the Agricultural Land Reserve. Using her political skills, she creates a dichotomy between ALR land and green space. However, ALR land and green space are not mutually exclusive. Even ALR land and parks are not mutually exclusive. The Garden City Lands are the perfect example of how the citizens of Richmond can have all three at once. While remaining as green space in the ALR, they can be a park with an agricultural theme—with green space values, park values, and food production values.